About this blog

Traveling is my passion. It's all about been there, embraced it and loved it. I always believe that having been to a destination and taken postcard shots of the famous landmark is never complete without a taste of the real culture and lifestyle of the locals.

We left the bustling city of Nairobi early in the morning headed off straight to our first stop, Tsavo before hitting the well known coastal town of kenya, Mombasa. The line up highlights of this trip (according to my wonderful plan) is to see the Chyulu hills National Park, Shetani Lavaflow and the old town of Mombasa. However, it turns out that what was not in my highlight list was better :)

Tsavo

The guest house which I reserved through the KWS turns out to be incredibly cheap and unbelievably clean. I was informed that there is no electricity and was prepared to spend the night with oil lamps. The condition of the guest house was well kept and the beddings and furnitures are new and clean that despite the lack of electricity, we spent a comfortable night there. For only 5000 KSH , this "banda" comfortably fit 7 guests!

Mzima Springs was quite an interesting spot to visit in Tsavo West. The spring is known to supply water to Mombasa and it was indeed a strange sight to seem a hippo dipping in a crystal clear pool and crocodiles resting by the lake bank as they are usually found in muddy areas (My dad thinks that someone has placed these animals here as it is impossible for the hippo and croc be upstream). An interesting hut was built in such a way that when you sit into the hut, it is submerged into the water and the view of the window shows the clear view of the bottom of the lake. The only strange thing that we failed to comprehend is that this place is guarded with armed guards, perhaps it is to protect us from the wild animals as it is not gated.

Mzima Springs

Shetani Lava flow was impressive. Until today one can still see the hardened lava from the tip of the mountain flowing out to a great distance beyond the eyes can behold. Although I must admit there is nothing much to it except the trail of hardened lava rocks.

Shetani Lava Flow

My greatest fascination about Tsavo is the Baobab trees (which is also known as the upside down tree) that lines the journey from our guest house to the national park entrance and the cheap souvenirs ( Starting price of wood cravings here are already half the price in Nairobi!)Baobab Tree

Mombasa (Best stopover between Tsavo and Mombasa is at Voi)

I was a little disappointed with Mombasa as I was kind of expecting it to be more like Lamu, the arabic coastal town. Unfortunately it is far from it, no wonder they named Lamu as the UNESCO Heritage site. Didn't really get to see the beautiful side of Mombasa, around Diani beach so I guess I can't comment much about Mombasa.

Enjoyed dinner at Tamarind :) Quite worth the while as the seafood is fresh and abudant, plus the view is AMAZING!

Ariel view from Fort Jesus. A fort left by the Portuguese. Basically similar to the one the left behind in Malaysia but this one was more impressive as the structure i basically still preserved with a touch of the Ottaman reign.

My biggest fascination in Mombasa, the giant tortoise! I guess the picture explains it all.